Addictions
by RyansDreamMaker
Summary: A Ranger outpost far from home has gotten lax with security, so now it's up to Charlie and the gang to make things right. Slight Charloe if you squint.
1. Chapter 1

A/N This story exists in the same little world as Stubborn Habits but the two don't really have anything to do with each other. Badass Charlie is here, she's just going to come later. For the most part she's just smart ass Charlie in this chapter. But the badass will return I promise! Let me know what you guys think! :-)

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><p>"I hate rain!" Conner looked up at the dark sky and groaned for what seemed like the millionth time. The rain poured down on them relentlessly, soaking them from head to toe.<p>

"I hate listening to you whine." Miles was practically screaming, but the rain was coming down so hard it was hard to hear yourself think, none the less hear someone else talk. Charlie heard him though.

"If you grab Monroe, I'll shoot Conner. Then we won't have to listen to him anymore." The look on her face made it obvious that she really wanted to shoot something. Or someone, either way.

"You guys do know I can hear you right?" Charlie and Miles both turned around to see Monroe frowning at them. "And why is it necessary for Miles to grab me?"

"Have you met yourself? Anybody tries to hurt that kid and you'll go all General on their ass. We may be on the same side now, but that's like baiting a bear. I'm good, but I'm not _that _good." She saw Monroe's mouth move and he shook his head, but she had no idea what he said.

"We need to find a dry place to stay. This whole trip will be pointless if we all get pneumonia and die." Miles looked around the empty landscape as if he thought an inn with roaring fires, warm beds, and good whisky would pop up out of nowhere.

"I saw and old road sign a way back, it said there was a town five miles up. Maybe we'll get lucky and there's still some people there." Monroe's voice somehow managed to penetrate the harsh winds and they both nodded. Conner wasn't paying attention to them. He was walking along the edge of the concrete trying to get some cover from the trees lining the road.

"Let's hope so. I don't feel like testing out Charlie's bear baiting theory." Monroe rolled his eyes and Charlie laughed. They all gathered their jackets tighter around themselves and picked up their pace. A fire and a bed sounded great right now.

They didn't have to wait long though. About half a mile later they came to a turn in the road, and just around the corner they could see fires burning up ahead. However, as they neared the 'city' they realized it wasn't a city at all. It was some sort of military base, surrounded by a wall that had been constructed out of everything from lumber to old, and moldy mattresses.

Before they had a chance to decide whether or not they wanted to stick around, the gate opened. Several soldiers, wearing uniforms they didn't recognize, came out with their guns raised. The four of them put their hands in the air to surrender. Even if they could take on these guys it was raining, they were wet, and cold, and just wanted to sleep. Even if they had to be prisoners for a few hours, at least they'd be dry.

They were ushered through the gate at gunpoint and led to a small cabin just inside the walls. It was a bit of a shock to go from pouring down ice cold rain to being in a dry, warm cabin with a nice big fire in the grate. Charlie immediately moved towards the fire, but one of the soldiers reached out and grabbed her arm. She reacted on instinct, grabbing her knife from her belt, flipping him against the wall, and putting it to his throat.

Then things got crazy. The soldiers in the room all cocked their weapons while a few moved to pull her off of their friend, which sent Miles into protective mode. He grabbed a soldiers' gun and pointed it directly at the man holding Charlie.

"Let her go or I blow your brains out." He was using his General voice and the young soldier nearly dropped his weapon in his haste to obey. Miles slowly lowered the gun, "look guys we aren't looking for troub- hey! You guys are Rangers." Charlie looked pulled her knife from the guys throat and looked around confused.

These men were in fact Rangers. The only reason they thought they didn't recognize them was because they were all soaking wet, it made their uniforms appear different. "Oh," Charlie jumped back from the guy she was holding, "sorry." He rubbed his neck and glared at her.

"Who the hell do you people think you are coming in here like this?" He stepped away from the wall and moved towards his men.

"Well actually, I'm Miles Matheson." All of the Rangers stood shocked for a moment and then snapped to attention.

"General Matheson, sir, I apologize. I didn't recognize you." Miles waved him off, looking annoyed with his warm reception. The soldier, who she could now see was a sergent, looked around at the rest of them. When his eyes fell on Monroe he nearly jumped out of his skin. "General Monroe," he looked between the two retired Texas Generals, "it's an honor to have you both here with us."

Monroe looked like Christmas had come early. He loved having people worship him. He opened his mouth to speak but Charlie had more important things on her mind than whatever bullshit he was about to start on.

"Yes, the Generals are here. And your honored they're here, and they're happy to be here. Blah, blah, blah. But you see," she gestured to their wet clothes, "we've been walking in the freezing rain for the last ten miles, so is there any way we can skip to the part of this conversation where you bring us hot food and dry clothes?"

OpOpOpOpOp

"You didn't have to be so rude Charlie." They were finally alone, the Rangers had taken them to the medical building to sleep because all of the barracks were completely full. Now clothed in spare uniforms and with full bellies, Miles was ready to start talking again. "Protocol and rank are a part of the job, and they did feed you and give you a place to sleep, so you could have at least said thank you."He was drinking the whisky one of the eager, young Privates had brought him.

She rolled her eyes at her uncle. "The only reason they did any of that stuff is because I'm your niece. If I had showed up here by myself they would have sent me back out and let me freeze to death. I'm not about to thank them for helping me when they only did it because they had to." With that she hopped into one of the cots near the fire and laid down.

Monroe shrugged. "She's just jealous they weren't falling all over themselves to kiss her ass."

Charlie rolled over in her cot to face them a smirk firmly in place. "Come on, do you really think that if I bent over, that even **one **of those guys would pay you any attention?" She sat up on her elbow to wait for a response.

"Well I don't know Charlotte, why don't you bend over and we'll find out."

She grinned at him. "Maybe later," she flopped back down on her bed, "I'm not really in the mood right now."

Miles sighed and shook his head. "Can't you just pretend, at least while I'm around, that your still my cute, little, five year old niece."

She tilted her head to look at him and smiled. "Anything for my Uncle Miles." Her voice was little-girlish and her eyes were wide.

"Just shut up and go to sleep." He took a long pull from his whisky bottle and closed his eyes. Charlie snorted at his discomfort but she was tired, so rather than picking on him more, she rolled over and closed her eyes.

"We should get some sleep too." Monroe looked over at his son to find him already fast asleep. He got up and grabbed his blanket and headed to his own cot.

"Yeah, I'm going. Just gonna finish this." He gestured to the inch or so of whisky in the bottom of the bottle.

Monroe frowned at his best friend. "Have you ever considered cutting back? I mean, it seems like you've been drinking even more than usual lately."

"Since when are you against drinking Bass?"

"I'm not, I'm just saying we're not twenty-five anymore. Maybe I should take you to an AA meeting or something." He grinned at his brother.

Miles knew he wasn't serious, Bass was just worried about him. And as much as he tried to pretend like that didn't matter it was a great feeling, having his brother back. Even though he would never admit it.

"Don't be such a dick, if I have to go, then your stupid ass definitely has to go."

But he just laughed and both men crawled into their beds, Miles blowing out the candles as he went. They both settled down and Miles was almost asleep when Charlie's voice broke the silence.

"What's an AA meeting?"

OpOpOpOpOp

The next morning they woke late, it was almost lunchtime when they finally made their way out of the small building. The storm had passed and the sun was shining, but the ground was mud and there were tree branches all over the ground.

"Morning Generals, sir, ma'am." The Sergeant led them to the mess hall for lunch, their breakfast. As they passed a larger building they saw broken glass and several soldiers running in and out looking harassed.

Miles turned to the Sergent, "what's going on in there?" The man looked a little uncomfortable so Miles adopted his General voice. "Sergeant, what happened here?"

"Sir, there was a break in last night during the storm. Several crates of weapons and ammunition were taken, along with two crates of explosives."

"And you let them get away?" He shrank back, away from Miles before he answered.

"There were only two Privates on duty, we pulled the other man to the gate when you came in. Whoever stole the stuff killed one of them and knocked the other out, by the time he came to they were gone, and the rain had washed away any tracks."

Charlie scoffed, "you guys are useless. Do you at least know who took the stuff? Can the other guard identity them?"

Again, he looked uncomfortable. "No ma'am, he said he never saw their faces. Just that he heard a commotion, went to check it out, saw his buddy on the floor, and then he went down. That's it."

She raised an eyebrow at him. "So your telling us that these guys came in to steal that stuff, killed one guard, but left the other one alive? And you believe that?"

Now the Sergeant looked confused but before Charlie could taunt him more, Monroe cut her off. "I think what Charlotte is trying to say, is that you've go an inside man on your hands. There's no way they kill one guard and are satisfied with just hitting the other one."

"Oh my God, what do we do?" The poor Sergeant looked lost.

Charlie scoffed at him. "**You **don't do anything. We'll take care of it." The Sergeant looked like he might object but she cut him off. "Somewhere, somebody, has a lot of weapons that they could do a lot of damage with. I'm not just gonna stand here and watch that happen while you idiot's stand around and scratch your junk."

Miles laughed, but agreed with her. "Take us to the survivor. He'll know where we should start."


	2. Chapter 2

A/N I'm not sure what happened but there were supposed to be breaks in the last chapter and they disappeared, I went back and fixed it in case anyone cares. (Not that it really matters) This isn't really action focused but it is very important for the story.

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><p>Apparently, spending two minutes locked in a room with the Butcher of Baltimore and the Scourge of Scranton is pretty terrifying. Because that's all it took for the 'survivor' of the attack to tell the boys everything he knew about the men who stole from the weapons cache. Charlie and Conner had barely started on breakfast when they came strolling into the mess hall with self satisfied grins on their faces.<p>

"That was the easiest interrogation ever." Miles and Monroe sat down at the table with their trays.

"We're looking for a guy named Tito, I know it's a stupid name, but that's what the kid said. He's black, about six feet tall, and he's built pretty well." Monroe looked pleased enough with his report and turned his attention to his food.

"That's it? Who's he working for? Where is he at?" Charlie was astonished with their lack of intel.

Miles frowned at her. "He didn't know anything else. The kid said he'd never even seen the guy till he showed up last night and paid him thirty diamonds to take a hit and lie about what happened." He dropped a pouch on the the table, the thud indicating that it was full of diamonds.

Charlie snatched it off of the table and pocketed it. The boys all stared at her. "What? Consider it an advance for my finders fee. I don't work for free you know, a girl's gotta eat." She took a big bite of scrambled eggs for emphasis.

"If we don't know anything about him, how the hell are we supposed to find him?" Conner sounded like he had already given up. Charlie rolled her eyes at him.

"Even a storm like last night's can't erase all tracks, there's always something to find. You just have to know where to look."

They finished their breakfast quickly and headed to the building that had been holding the weapons. Charlie examined every inch of the inside and found nothing, but that didn't seem phase her. She went back outside to the broken window.

"There was no reason for them to break the window. Why didn't they just break down the door?" She was talking out loud but she wasn't talking to anyone in particular. "It was the distraction. They broke the window to draw the guards attention. Which means," she bent down and picked up a large piece of glass, "that someone stood here and waited for just the right moment and the broken glass will have protected the ground from most of the rain."

The boys just looked at each other, none of them understood why this mattered or how it helped them. Charlie set the glass aside and knelt down, her fingertips tracing the outline of a large boot. She stopped suddenly and leaned forward, reaching for something close to the buildings foundation. She held up her hand to show them a half smoked cigarette, a big smile on her face.

"Great, so we're looking for Bigfoot who also happens to have a smoking problem." Conner sat down against a tree. "Nice work detective."

Charlie narrowed her eyes at him and stood up. " I thought you said you were a drug lord down in Mexico? You obviously don't know your tobacco. All tobacco is different, from the way they grow, harvest it, even the way they roll it. We want to find Tito, we need to find where this came from."

Miles smirked at Conner. "Drug lord? Seemed more like you were the drug lords bitch to me."

A young Private standing near by snickered and Conner turned angrily towards him. But before he could retaliate Charlie cut across him and moved to the Private's side. "You smoke?" He nodded his head. "Is this the stuff you use?" She held the cigarette up to his nose and he sniffed it. He scrunched up his face in distaste.

"No ma'am, but I have had it before. I bought it from the town just down the road."

"Where? Who did you buy it from?"

He looked thoughtful for a moment. "I know I got it in bar, but I never knew the guys name. I don't like that stuff, so I never bought it a second time."

"And you don't remember the bar?"

"No ma'am, sorry, when we go out we hit like every bar in town. It could have been any of them."

Charlie sighed, turning to the boys. "Not the best intel, but we've done more with less."

"She's right. We should head out, the longer we take, the farther away those weapons get." Miles motioned for them to move and the four of them set out for the town at the end of the road.

**OpOpOpOpOp**

Charlie was starting to get a little irritated with their lack of intel. Upon their arrival at the town where this tobacco was supposedly from, they found out that the town wasn't a town at all. It was a city, twice the size of Austin, with a bar and two whore houses on every block. The place actually reminded her of New Vegas, only bigger, dirtyer, and smelled worse too.

They had decided to split up right away, each of them taking a section to hunt around for whoever the hell this Tito guy was. Charlie had already been in seven bars. No one had ever seen or heard of Tito, and no one could seem to identify the tobacco either. She had pretty much given up on actually finding a lead when she entered the eighth bar.

It was almost empty, just an elderly man behind the bar and two patrons. One was sitting at the end of the bar close to the back door, he was resting his elbow on the bar with a glass of something in his hand. The other guy was sitting at a table in the middle of the room. The three men watched her as she approached the bar, shooting the old man a big smile.

"Hi, I was wondering if you could help me out. I'm looking for a guy named Tito. He's a tall black guy, nice build." The man didn't seem to keen to help her so she continued. "He lost a bet and now he owes me twenty diamonds. I just want my money." She smiled and did her best to look innocent, the old man considered her for a minute and then nodded.

"I might know who your talking about." He turned around to grab a glass off of a shelf and she noticed an old, shiny baseball bat on the shelf just above it. He turned back around, setting the glass on the counter and reaching for a bottle. He looked up at her as he started to pour, and she noticed, just for a second, that his eyes moved to something behind her and went wide.

There was no time to think, her instincts kicked in and she jumped onto the counter. Just as she rolled off the side and onto the floor something crashed above her, showering the floor with splintered bits of wood. She got quickly to her feet only to find the guy that had been sitting in the middle of the room was dropping what was left of a bar stool on the floor and preparing to jump over the counter top.

Thinking fast, she grabbed the baseball bat off of its shelf and swung right at his head, throwing all of her strength into it. It hit its mark with a sickening crack, spraying blood all over her arms and face. The man crumpled to the ground and she noticed the elderly bartender disappearing into the back room.

She moved to go after him when the other man who had been sitting at the bar stepped behind it and started towards her. She held up the bat, ready to strike again when a mans voice stopped her.

"That's enough." The man stepped out of the shadows. He had been sitting in a booth at the front of the room, so she hadn't noticed him when she walked in. He was tall and blonde, rather broad in the shoulders. She expected his face to be scary or menacing, but he didn't even look angry. In fact, he was smiling.

The man from the end of the bar took one look at the blonde and quickly followed the bartender's example, disappearing out the back door. Charlie repositioned herself to strike at the newcomer.

He said nothing for a moment, just smiled at her and reached over the bar for a bottle of whisky and a glass. He poured a generous amount and slid it towards her. "I assume that's your preference, all things considered."

"What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?" She tightened her hold on the bat and stepped closer, but something stirred in the back of her mind. This man seemed... familiar.

"Whoa, easy Charlie." He held up his hands in mock surrender and took a few steps back.

"How do you know my name? Who the hell are you?" Her heart was hammering in her chest, her mind swirling with all the possibilities. He could work for Tito and was trying to get rid of her before she got to close, or worse, he could be a leftover Patriot coming for revenge.

He was still holding his hands up in front of him. "I know your name because your uncle told it to me over fifteen years ago."

That made Charlie freeze. If this man knew Miles then he most likely was not a friend. In the last three years she had leaned that nine times out of ten, Miles 'friends' were not people she wanted to get to know. She had two options; run and risk leading him back to Miles, which she wasn't going to do because he probably wanted him dead, or kill the guy and hope that no one else in town knew they were here. She wasn't going to do that either, it left to much up to chance. So she was going to play dumb to try and find out what he knew. Then she was going to kill him.

"My uncle told you that? That's weird, because I don't have an uncle." She kept her voice cool and calm, lowering the bat to seem like less of a threat. But he just smiled even wider.

"Relax Charlie. I know all about Miles Matheson, he was one of my best friends. And if I know Miles that means he's somewhere nearby because he would never leave his favorite little niece in a bar all by herself." Charlie's mind was in overdrive but one of those things caught her attention immediately.

"I don't need Miles to protect me." She raised the bat to emphasize her own independence, but he simply laughed at her.

"I just watched you bash this guys head in," he pointed at the bloody puddle on the ground, "I have no doubt that you could take me down in a heartbeat. You forget that you almost blew me into itty bitty pieces the last time we saw each other." Now she was really confused. _Who the hell is this guy?_

He seemed to read her expression and rolled his eyes. "Just like a Matheson to forget an attempt at murder. Let me remind you, I took Miles into custody and then you and Nora showed up. One flaming arrow later and Miles was gone, and so were my ear drums."

It was like her mind was moving in slow motion, she could see the bridge in her head, Miles with his hands cuffed behind his back, and the Captain who had taken him into custody, Nora lighting the arrow in her crossbow. Realization must have crossed her face because he lowered his hands and sat down, studying her face. His gaze was making her uncomfortable but she met it head on, waiting for him to break the silence.

"It's weird," he seemed to be thinking really hard about something, "you fight a lot like Miles, but I swear, you fight just like Bass did."

_Did? What do you mean, did?_

It was like he could tell she was thinking about Monroe, he just didn't know what she was thinking. "Bass. You know, Monroe? He and Miles were friends a long time ago, but you probably have figured that out by now." He didn't look angry like Miles old friends usually did. In fact, he looked sad. All of a sudden any fear she had for their safety was gone, this man wasn't a threat. He just missed his friends.

"Well don't tell him that you think I fight just like he does. That's the last thing I need, him thinking that he should give me lessons." His eyes went wide and his mouth hung open for a minute before he pulled himself together.

"He's... Bass? He's alive? But Texas killed him."

She smirked at the stupid look in his face. "Yeah right, people have been trying to kill his sorry ass for how long? Myself included. Monroe's like a fungus, he's hard to get rid of." She hopped back over the counter and waved him towards the door. "Come on the boys are waiting."

He got up slowly from his seat, his mind still processing that his two best friends were not only alive, but they were both here, together. He looked down at the man on the floor and reached into his pocket, dropping several diamonds on the counter top. She gave him a questioning look.

"For the mess."

Charlie nodded. "What's your name again?"

"Jeremy, Jeremy Baker."

"You know anything about Tito, Jeremy?"

"I might know a thing or two."

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><p>AN I love Jeremy! I thought I was going to die when they killed him. I wrote this chapter basically to introduce him into the story. He and Charlie will be **friends** thats it. But I think I'm going to have Charlie tease Monroe a little by flirting with him ;-) I appreciate those of you that have taken the time to comment and I hope to see more!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N So I know that this chapter is a little long but a lot needed to happen here to get things moving. I love seeing your guys' reviews, thank you so much! Let me know what you think about this one!

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><p>Miles, Monroe, and Conner had been waiting at the rendezvous point for over an hour now. Conner was already asleep in his bedroll, having reported nothing of any use he decided he deserved some sleep. Miles and Monroe were sitting in front of the fire sipping whisky and eating dried jerky while they waited for Charlie to get back.<p>

"We should go and look for her." Miles stood up from his seat. "It's almost dark, she should have been back by now."

Monroe sighed, Miles had been gettina antsy for the last half hour and he knew it would only be a matter of time before he completely freaked out. "Charlie can handle herself Miles. I'm sure she'll be back soon, and then we'll have to listen to her brag about how she found Tito and already recovered the weapons all by herself." He sent his brother a smile that clearly said he wasn't excited about that last part.

"Really?" Miles look was sceptical, he tilted his head slightly to look at him. "When did you hop on the Charlie train? Or are you just ready to follow your son's example?" Miles pointed at Conner's sleeping form.

Monroe frowned in his son's direction but quickly turned his attention back to the conversation. "Come on Miles, I thinks she's earned it, don't you? I mean, look at how many times she's come through for us. You have to give her some credit, she is a Matheson after all."

Mile still looked ready to send out the search party when Charlie suddenly appeared in the clearing. Both men jumped up, hands on their weapons, ready to fight because they had not heard her approach.

"Wow, I didn't imagine that right? Monroe just complemented me?" They boys watched as she turned to a man standing right behind her.

"Yes he did. But from what I've seen, you totally deserve it though." His face was hidden in shadow, but something in that voice was familiar. Bass turned to find Miles looking at him curiously, he must have recognized it too.

Charlie smiled at the boys, it was small and a little hesitant. "Miles, promise you won't freak out."

"Uh-oh." Miles head snapped to look at Bass.

"What?" His head snapped back to Charlie.

"Well the last time I heard her say that it was because she had brought me back to Willoughby with her." He looked at Charlie and she seemed to make a quick decision.

"What can I say? I guess I have knack for finding Miles old friends and dragging them around with me." She waved the man behind her forward, but he hesitated for a second before moving into the light of the fire.

Miles eyes buldged and he nearly fell over in shock. But Monroe stood still. It couldn't be Jeremy, he was dead, he had killed him back in Philadelphia, and it haunted him everyday.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Jeremy smiled shyly at his old friends.

"Jeremy? What the fuck! I thought you were dead, like skin peeled off, burnt to a crisp, dead." Miles grabbed his old friend by the shoulders and shook him as if he were testing whether or not he was real. "I thought you were dead." The smile on his face was big and genuine, and Charlie knew she had made the right call to bring Jeremy back here.

Until she saw Monroe's face. He looked frozen, his face was pale, and his eyes were wide. Miles finally noticed his brother's strange reaction. "Hey, dickhead, what's with the face?" But Jeremy put a hand on Miles shoulder to stop him and stepped towards Monroe.

"Hey Bass." Monroe stepped back shaking his head.

"No," his was breathing was fast and harsh, "I... you..."

Jeremy set a hand on his old friend's shoulder and spoke quietly so Miles couldn't hear. "It's alright Bass, I'm alive."

But he continued to shake his head. "But-"

"Forget it." Jeremy's voice was gentle but firm. "It's in the past. What do you say we leave it there?" He looked hopefully at Monroe.

Charlie and Miles exchanged looks. He looked as lost as she'd ever seen him, but she understood. Jeremy had told her about how he and Monroe had parted ways. He had only told her because halfway to the camp he had suddenly decided he changed his mind, she hadn't bought it of course, and had demanded to know why. Reluctantly, he told her about how Monroe had had him killed, but he had sworn her to secrecy.

So looking at Miles she simply shrugged and he seemed to buy it because he turned his attention back to his friends. "Guys, what's going on?"

Jeremy turned to smile at him. "It's nothing. I'm just glad to see you two within a hundred yards of each other, and no weapons in sight." He took a look around the camp, taking in the guns and swords laying by their packs. "Well, at least not pointed at each other."

Charlie rolled her eyes. "Oh please, they couldn't kill each other if they tried. They're more likely to drink themselves to death."

Jeremy chuckled. "Great, so nothing's changed then." He smiled and looked around the camp again as he sat down on a log. He grabbed Miles bottle of whisky and drank deeply. The boys both laughed and joined him sitting on either side, each taking a drink as well.

Monroe look up at Charlie who was standing next to the fire shaking her head, a sad sort of smile on her face. "What's with the face Charlotte?"

"It's nothing." She smiled a bit bigger this time, more convincingly. "Jeremy knows where Tito likes to hide out, so you guys can catch up, and tomorrow we'll catch up with Tito." She turned and grabbed her pack, pulled out her bedroll, and started to settle in.

They watched her for a moment before Miles started asking Jeremy a million questions about where he had been and what he had been doing for the last year and a half. Monroe pulled his attention back to the conversation and away from the young woman just in time to hear Jeremy ask, "what's that lump over there?" He was pointing at Conner.

Monroe actually laughed a real laugh, for what felt like the first time in years. "That would be my son."

Jeremy looked stunned. "No way. How did you find him?"

He looked at Miles who at least had the grace to look guilty. "Turned out, that Miles knew where he was the whole time."

Jeremy turned his stunned face to Miles and then frowned. "Of course he did."

Miles simply shrugged. "I was just doing what Emma asked. I thought that Bass was too far gone to be able to handle a kid." He shrugged again and gave Monroe an apologetic look.

Monroe grabbed the bottle and took another drink before turning back to his best friend and his brother. "The past is the past. Let's leave it there." The three men smiled to each other and started reminiscing about the good old days when he thought he heard Charlie's voice. "What was that Charlotte?"

She turned over to look at them with a small smile on her face. "I didn't say anything." She laid her head down and closed her eyes while they resumed their conversation.

"Idiot's."

That time, Monroe was sure he heard it.

OpOpOpOpOp

"Why do bad guys always hang out in nasty bars, with prostitutes." Charlie was staring down a steep hill at an old building with the words 'Wal-mart' written on the side, which according to Jeremy, used to be a grocery store. Men were steadily filing into the building with scantily clad women on their arms, and several other women were hanging around the front door trying to get invited in by flashing their, as Conner liked to call them, 'goods' at the passing men.

"It's not a bad guy thing Charlie, it's just a guy thing." Conner was starting longingly down at the building. "God I love hookers." They all watched as Conner adjusted the front of his jeans with a grin on his face.

Charlie looked at the other three men and noticed that they weren't exactly disagreeing. "You guys are disgusting." She shook her head and turned her attention back to the problem at hand. It would be dark soon and they needed to get inside.

"They blocked off all of the other entrances except for the back door, the bosses wanted a back way out just in case." Jeremy looked around at his companions. "Tito's probably hanging out in there somewhere. The only way you get in there is if you work for the bosses."

"Not necessarily." Charlie smiled at the dumb looks on their faces. "I can get in there." She looked down at the women standing out front in short skirts and dresses.

Miles and Monroe caught on to what she was thinking immediately. "No." They said together.

Charlie scoffed at them. "Yes. I'll go in, get Tito, and bring him out. Then you two can do what you do best and find out where they put the weapons."

They both stared at her. "No."

She rolled her eyes and picked up Jeremy's pack off of the ground. She started going through it, looking for something. "Well, first of all, I don't need your permission. And second, it's our best play and you know it." She set down Jeremy's bag with a frown, apparently she hadn't found what she wanted.

Charlie grabbed Miles pack and started going through it. "Hey, what are you doing?" She ignored him. "Get out of my stuff." She threw the bag down, but Monroe had the feeling that it was more because she still hadn't found what she wanted rather than because Miles told her too.

She looked between him and Conner. Her nose scrunched up slightly when she looked at Conner so she turned to Monroe with her hand outstretched. He frowned at her. "Why? What are you looking for?"

She sighed, rolling her eyes and snatched it off of his shoulder. Opening it, she went through its contents quickly before a smile stretched across her face. She pulled out an old, red and black flannel shirt. She held it up and shook it off to get rid of the dust and dirt. She looked back at Jeremy. "I'm gonna need your belt too."

He blinked at her for a moment before muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'women.' Lucky for him, Charlie let it slide as she took the black belt from his outstretched hand.

"Stay here, I'll be right back." And with that she disappeared into the trees.

The four men looked at each other shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders. Charlie wasn't gone long, but part of Monroe wished she had stayed hidden in the trees forever.

She stepped back into the small clearing and each man had to hold back a groan, though for entirely different reasons. Charlie had pulled her hair up into a messy bun, stray curls spiralling down around her cheeks. Her body was now clad in Monroe's flannel shirt, with Jeremy's belt pulled tightly around her tiny waist. She had left the top buttons undone, revealing the tops of her breasts to anyone that dared to look. The shirt didn't even reach down to her mid-thigh, and she wasn't wearing any pants. Her impossibly long legs were shining perfectly in the moonlight, her regular knee high boots looked incredibly hot without her pants covering her legs.

She smiled shyly at them. "Well... how do I look?"

Conner was the first one to finally speak up. "Like a hooker."

"Perfect." Her smiled grew bigger and she turned, heading off down the hill. She called back to them. "I'll be back in twenty minutes, half hour tops."

The boys all followed her to the edge of the hill and stood in a line, completely stunned, watching her make her way down. Again, Conner was the first to speak. "God I really, really, love hookers."

None of the others seemed to hear him. Monroe had briefly shut his eyes and was currently screaming in his head about why it had to be **his **shirt she was wearing.

They watched as she had a short conversation with a man not much taller than herself and a little on the chubby side. He extended his arm and wrapped it around her, pulling her to his side, and she allowed him to lead her into the building.

Jeremy was grinning from ear to ear. "Dude, your niece is a genius. And she's super hot." Miles turned to glare at him. "What? You saw her!" He gestured wildly at the place she had just been standing. "She looked like a freakin' Victoria's Secret model!"

Miles raised his hand and slapped Jeremy hard on the back of the head. "No. Just, no. I don't want to hear anyone mention this ever again. Got it?" He looked around at them menacingly. "And I don't want you," he pointed at Jeremy, "or you," he pointed at Conner, "to look at her until she's got her clothes back on, I don't even want you to think about her. Got it?" They nodded slowly trying to hide their smiles at Miles insane overprotective attitude.

They walked away from the edge of the hill to sit down and wait for Charlie to get back, while Miles and Monroe remained standing. Miles looked sideways at his oldest friend and muttered quietly. "I don't know what's worse. Those two openly staring at her, or you trying to pretend that your not." He gave him a dark look but didn't wait for a response, choosing to walk away and settle in for the wait.

Monroe stood there frowning at the spot where his brother had just been, and then frowned down at the spot where Charlotte had been standing. In his shirt.

OpOpOpOpOp

Getting in the building hadn't been hard. Most of the other women standing outside looked great from afar, but up close you could see why the men going in were passing them by. They were older, dressed in torn and dirty dresses, wearing paint on their faces that made them look like clowns. Charlie suddenly felt a little underdressed, but that was pushed aside as a short, pudgy guy with an ugly mustache approached her.

"You look yummy." A nasty shiver shot down her spine, but she shoved the disgusting feeling aside and gave him a cheeky little grin.

"Maybe if your good," she stepped forward, biting her lip, "I'll give you a little taste."

He reached out and put an arm around her waist pulling her roughly to his side. "Well, I don't know how good I'll be." He gave her a predatory smile.

Ultimately, getting inside had been way to easy. The guard took one look at her escort and waved them through, without giving her a second glance. Unless you count him looking at her ass.

The inside of the building was enormous, with high ceilings and floor space that seemed to go on for miles in the semi-darkness. The club itself only occupied the front of the building though. Old shelves and shopping carts had been pushed aside to make room for tables and couches, that were arranged in a circular pattern around a small platform. The platform held a small band that was playing softly in the backround. Candles and lanterns provided what small amount of light they could get and a film of smoke hung in the air over the crowd.

Charlie looked around and realized that practically every man in the place was holding a cigarette. _I guess I won't be narrowing it down that way. _The man that had brought her in was pulling her towards a table, she let him, figuring she had plenty of time to find Tito in such an open space. He sat down and yanked her onto his lap, she sat rigidly for a moment. _Relax Charlie, don't blow it. Just find Tito._

She relaxed her body and tuned out the man who was now buzzing in her ear. She had to restrain herself from snapping his fingers off when they wandered around her waist and up towards her breasts. That's when she noticed the tall, black man standing at the bar near the front of the room.

"I'm gonna go get us some drinks." She pried his hands off of her and winked at him for good measure before heading off to the bar. The guy merely nodded and turned his attention to a brunette in a skirt and a bikini top. _Moron._

Charlie approached the bar slowly. The possible Tito was talking with another man. "So how long do you think?" The other man asked him.

"Few days. Then it should be safe to deliver it. I wanna lay low for a few days, make sure no one comes looking."

"Fine, but don't take too long, the boss isn't exactly a patient man." Possible Tito nodded at him and the other man took off with his drink in hand. _Definitely Tito._

Charlie waltzed right up to the counter and took the spot right next to him. "Can I get some whisky?" The bartender filled a glass and she downed it in one. "Another?" The bartender smiled and refilled it, she winked at him, "thanks." He nodded at her and walked away.

"Impressive." Tito turned towards her with a grin on his face. _Too easy. _

"What can I say? I like to have a good time." She locked eyes with him and licked her lips.

He chuckled low in his throat. "Really? Me too, I bet we could have all kinds of fun together." His eyes roamed over her chest and down to her legs. She resisted the urge to poke his eyes out and put a hand on his thigh.

"Well what are we waiting for?" She tossed back her drink and hopped up from her seat, grabbing his hand she pulled him to the door.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and walked behind her, talking in her ear. "Aren't you eager?" _Yeah, to get the fuck out of here and find my pants._

She spun around in his arms and spoke in his ear. "You have no idea." His eyes were focused on her lips and she turned quickly, leading him to the door.

"Then hurry up," he pushed her faster and they were outside in seconds, headed for the trees. Once they were a resonable distance from the front door Charlie pushed him against a tree and pressed her body flush against his, pinning him to the tree. "God girl, your so fucking hot." Charlie merely chuckled before she pulled back her arm and whacked him in the face with her elbow. He slumped to the ground completely unconscious.

"Man, I amost feel bad for the guy." But Jeremy's voice indicated the exact opposite. All four boys appeared at her side looking down at the unconscious Tito. She looked at each of them and frowned.

"What, none of you thought to bring me my pants?" They all looked slightly surprised at the suggestion but she just rolled her eyes and started back up the hill, her hips swaying. She called back to them. "You guys coming? And make sure you bring him with you, I can't do all the work around here." She continued up the slope with the boys following her, Miles and Monroe carrying Tito under his arms. "And quit staring at my ass."


	4. Chapter 4

They had found an abandoned house several miles from the club. The basement only had one window that had already been boarded up by the previous occupants, so they tied the unconscious Tito to a sturdy chair and left to wait for him to wake up. The five of them were lounging around the old living room in rotted furniture sipping whisky. All except for Conner, he was snoring loudly from his spot in an old armchair.

"Does he always do that?" Jeremy was pointing at Conner in the chair with a mixture of amusement and pity on his face.

"Are you asking about the sleeping or the snoring? Because they kinda go together." Charlie smirked and gave him a little wink.

"Actually, I was talking about the fact that since I've met the kid, ninety percent of his time has been spent asleep. But, you being as intelligent as you are, I'm sure knew exactly what I meant."

Charlie grinned at him and got up from her seat. "Finally, someone who actually appreciates me." She walked over to sit on the arm of Jeremy's chair and threw her arm around his shoulders, looking at Miles and Monroe like she expected them to tell her how much they appreciated her.

Miles just scoffed and rolled his eyes at her, taking a long pull from his bottle. Monroe looked at her arm around Jeremy and frowned. "Stop fishing for compliments Charlotte, it's beneath you." His face was blank and impassive, but his eyes were gleaming mischievously.

Her face turned from a self satisfied grin to stone cold anger in a heartbeat. "Well excuse me, Sebastian," she waited for a moment for the name to sink in "I wouldn't have to fish if you would just grow up and learn to use your words."

He opened his mouth to retaliate but was drowned out by Miles loud groan. "Oh my God, you two are so annoying." He sat up to look at them properly. "I spent forty years listening to you whine," he looked pointedly at Monroe. "Then, just when I got used to not having to listen to him, you showed up," now he was pointing at Charlie. "Two years of listening to you whine, and you'd think the universe would have given me a break." He slumped back on the couch with a sigh. "But no, now not only do I have to listen to you both whine all the time, I have to listen to you bicker like an old married couple."

Monroe was still trying to process the fact that Miles thought of his talking as 'whining' when Charlie spoke up. "That's not fair, I'm just trying to defend myself, he's the one walking around acting like a three year old." She lifted her chin defiantly and Miles snorted at her.

"Do you even hear yourself? Your whining about not whining."

Jeremy broke up the conversation by laughing loudly. When they all looked at him he simply shrugged. "I can't believe that out of all that none of you have mentioned the fact that somehow Bass and Charlie have become an old married couple." He looked incredulously at the three of them.

Charlie merely shrugged. "Well it's obviously not true Jeremy," she looked at him like he was being deliberately slow, "I can't be a part of an old married couple. I'm not old." The certainty with which she said it had Jeremy practically on the ground rolling. Unfortunately, the noise woke Conner from his 'nap.'

"Seriously guys, come on, I'm trying to sleep."

Now it was Charlie's turn to laugh. "Sorry princess, we'll try to keep it down so you can get your beauty sleep." Conner glared at her but his comeback was drowned out by a loud noise coming from the basement.

Clang, clink, clank. "Help! Help me!" Clang, clank, cling.

Miles actually chuckled at the sounds. "Probably that wrench we left over by the water heater."

Monroe snorted. "Yeah, I guess we should have hid it a little better." He turned to Jeremy. "You ready?"

Jeremy hopped up from his seat with a big smile on his face. "Just like old times?" Miles and Monroe both nodded at him and he heaved a satisfied little sigh, cracking his knuckles as he approached the basement door. "Excellent."

He disappeared through the door and Charlie raised an eyebrow at the boys, silently asking what he meant by that. They went back to sipping their whisky, evil little grins on their faces, and waited for Jeremy to return.

She had no doubt that whatever their plan was would work so rather than 'whining' about not knowing the plan, she sat back in Jeremy's vacated chair and rested her eyes. She was tired, it was late, and she needed to sleep. The only thing keeping her from doing just that was the fear of being compared to sleeping beauty on the other side of the room, and she wanted to talk to Tito. She just hoped Jeremy came back before she fell asleep.

Thankfully, she didn't have to wait long. Jeremy reappeared at the top of the steps less than five minutes later, he didn't look particularly pleased or upset so she couldn't tell how it had gone.

"Our little friend downstairs is apparently better than we thought. Casually evaded all of my preliminary questions, kept eerily calm, and didn't even blink when I asked him about your missing stuff. I hate to break it to you guys, but I don't think Tito's gonna talk as easy as we thought." He hesitated for a moment before he added, "he actually kinda reminds me of Tom Neville." Jeremy visibly shivered. "Hated that guy."

"Join the club." Charlie rolled her eyes at him and continued, "so what's the plan now Generals?"

Monroe smirked at her expectant face. "Don't worry Charlotte, Miles and I will take care of everything. You should go lay down, you look tired."

She jumped out of her seat to punch his stupid, smug, little face, but stopped herself and did her best Rachel impersonation. "Why thank you Sebastian, I am very tired." She gave him an icy smile. "But someone has to stay up and make sure you two idiots don't kill him before we get the intel we need."

"Alright, well, it doesn't really matter anyway. If he's as bad as Jeremy says he is, then talking to him now won't do us any good. Let's all get some sleep. We can let him stew for the night and we'll talk to him in the morning." Miles was obviously trying to prevent another argument from breaking out.

"Fine." Charlie locked eyes with Monroe, silently telling him that she wasn't done with him yet. He didn't look to concerned about it and sounded annoyingly sincere when he wished her good night.

OpOpOpOpOp

After a good night's sleep in a fairly comfortable bed Charlie's mood had definitely improved. That didn't stop her from getting revenge on Monroe for his attitude the night before though. It was pretty early, the house was quiet, which meant that everyone else was probably still asleep. Monroe however, was sitting by the fire waiting for some water to heat up.

He must have been up for a while because as she entered the room he was lifting it off of the flames and headed towards the ancient bathroom. She waited until he had set it down on the counter before following him into the tiny room and going around him to stand on his other side. He raised his eyebrows, looking shocked to find her so close in such a cramped space.

"Thank you Sebastian!" Her voice was sickly sweet. "That was so thoughtful of you." And with that she pushed him out the door and slammed it shut in his face. She stayed completely still, waiting to see how he would react. No noise came from his side of the door and she didn't hear any footsteps, so he must still be there. Just as a small pang of guilt hit her for taking it from him, when he had obviously gotten up early and done this for himself, his boots could be heard retreating from the bathroom._Victory. _

She used the hot water to clean herself up and headed back to her room for a fresh set of clothes. As she passed through the living room again Monroe caught her arm. He was holding a bowl of oatmeal out to her with a small smile on his face.

"I thought I'd make you breakfast. I figure if you can't manage getting your own bath water then you might need help with food too."

_Oh, I'm gonna kill him. _

When she didn't move to take the bowl he pushed it into her hands. "It's alright Charlotte, I didn't poison it." He walked away, swaggering as he went.

Scowling she brushed past him on her way to her room. "Oh I wasn't worried Sebastian. You wouldn't hurt me, you like me to much."

Just then Jeremy came out of his room, his hair a complete disaster. "You look like you've got rabid squirrels nesting on top of your head," she pointed at his hair.

"I just woke up, I haven't even fixed it yet!" He was running his hands through his hair trying to control it.

She chucked and ruffled his hair. "I think it's kinda cute this way." She winked at him and disappeared into her room.

Jeremy took one look at his friend and had to fight back a laugh. "Dude, she's just messing with you. You know that, right?"

Monroe didn't respond, he just turned back towards the kitchen to make himself some breakfast. He had honestly thought that she would resfuse to take it from him when he was offering it to her.

It wasn't long before everyone else was up. Charlie had returned to the kitchen with a smile on her face, pointedly putting her empty bowl in the sink. Miles and Conner were finishing up their breakfast while Monroe heated up some more water and Jeremy had gone to check the perimeter.

Once Jeremy returned with the all clear, the boys were ready to start. "You guys keep an eye on things up here, me and Bass will handle our little friend." Miles already had the basement door open.

"How long is this gonna take?" Miles rolled his eyes at Conner's whiney tone.

"Not long, I think our records what, four days?" He looked at Monroe for conformation but he shook his head.

"Five, remember that one guy with the missing finger?" Miles laughed.

"Now that guy was fun." Silently agreeing with him, he and Monroe went down the steps, leaving the three of them to wait and hope that this didn't take five days.

They dispersed sometime later, they couldn't hear what was happening downstairs so waiting in the kitchen had gotten boring fast. Conner was asleep in his chair (again), Jeremy was sharpening his swords, and Charlie was sitting by the window reading a book she had found under the bed in her room. It was about a girl who had gotten stuck in some arena to fight to the death in some sick game. Charlie couldn't help but feel like she'd totally win that game.

The boys hadn't been downstairs more than an hour when the noises started. At first, it was just pained grunts making their way through the house. After another hour Tito was borderline screaming. It didn't seem to bother Jeremy, he had moved on to cleaning his knives, and if she was honest it didn't really bother her either. Conner didn't even mumble in his sleep, he snored right through Tito's screams.

Finally, the noise stopped and the boys reappeared at the top of the steps. Monroe had his creepy, cold face on, but as he shut the door she watched the indifference fall from his face. Miles however, was covered in blood. His knuckles, his arms up to his elbows, and the front of his shirt we soaked in a deep red color.

Everyone was quiet while Miles cleaned up and changed into some fresh clothes. When he came back into the room he sat down and grabbed his whisky bottle. "Well that could have gone better." He drank deeply and turned his attention to Monroe. "What do you think."

"Let's let him sit for a while, rest up, and then go at him again. Jer was right, this may take longer than we thought."

Charlie sighed heavily. "We don't have time for this. I heard Tito talking to a guy in the club, it was the guy he's planning on selling the weapons to. The other guy said they would wait a few days, but that his boss is impatient. They won't wait long before they come looking for him."

Miles and Monroe exchanged glances before turning back to her. "Judging by your tone, I take it you have a better idea. Care to share Charlotte?"

Rather than raising to his bait she simply smiled and got up from her seat. She went into Jeremy's room and grabbed his pack, rifling through it she found the old revolver she had seen in there the day before. She tucked it into her jeans and went back to the main room looking at the boys, she smiled again.

"Yes, I have a plan. But, I'm going to need some help. Sebastian, would you like to assist me?" He and Miles both frowned at her.

"What do you want me to-"

"Whoa, wait, why don't I get to come?" Miles looked like the kid that gets picked last for teams on the playground.

"Fine, you can both come. And I don't need you to do anything, just stand there and look scary. I'm sure you both can handle that."

They both nodded their assent and followed her to the basement door. "Oh, one of you grab me one of those kitchen chairs. I'm gonna need it." She went quickly down the steps and the boys gave each other questioning looks. Eventually, Miles just shrugged so Monroe grabbed a chair and they followed her down into the basement.

OpOpOpOpOp

As Charlie descended the stairs she took a deep breath, shoved her emotions aside, and tried to mentally prepare herself for what she was about to do. She had never done this before. Sure, she had seen Miles and Monroe at work, she had even seen Jason interrogate that Patriot back in Austin. But she had never actually laid her hands on someone, not for this purpose. _Do this right, and you won't have touch him anyway._

Tito was still tied to his chair, his head was lolling to the side and blood was dripping from the corner of his mouth. His fingers were all swollen to the size of sausages, Miles had clearly broken them. She took the chair from Monroe and set it in front of their prisoner, then motioned for the boys to stand back by the wall. They looked curious, but didn't ask any questions, they didn't want to make it seem like they weren't a team in front of Tito.

Charlie stood in front of Tito and gently slapped the side of his face. "Wakey-wakey!" Her sing-song voice filled the room and Tito stirred, looking up at her behind swollen eye lids.

He snorted with laughter. "Seriously? You people have no idea what your doing, do you?" He looked over at Miles and Monroe leaning casually against the wall. He looked back at Charlie. "Listen honey, you can sweet talk me all you want, but if I didn't tell them two anything, I sure as hell am not about to give you shit."

Despite his condescending tone, his reaction made her smile. It was exactly what she had been hoping for. "Well I hate to break it to you, but I'm not much of a sweet talker." She flipped the chair around and straddled it so she could face him.

"Actually," she pulled the revolver out of the back of her jeans, "I prefer... simpler methods."

He eyed the gun wearily but sneered at her. "Fine, shoot me. Then you'll never get your stuff back."

"Oh, I plan on shooting you." She started pulling the bullets out of the gun. "But, you want to know something?" She waited like she thought he might respond. _Yeah, right._

"Most people don't know that **where **you shoot someone is the most important part of an interrogation. You see, if you think I'm just going to kill you, then you aren't going to tell me what I want to know." She paused as if for dramatic effect. "But, if I shoot you in the leg, you might be more inclined to tell me what I want." She gave him her best Rachel-creepy smile and she thought she saw a flash of something like fear in his eyes. _Gotcha._

"You wanna play a game?" She hopped up from her chair, her false cheery voice filling the room.

"Nah, but come back later without your boyfriends and me and you," his eyes roamed up and down her body, "can play all you want."

"Sorry honey, I prefer blondes. And you don't actually have a choice, so get ready to loose, because I'm really good at this game." She started lining up the bullets from the revolver on the back of the chair.

"You a gambler?" He didn't answer, just continued to stare at her. "Me either, I suck at card games, my little brother used to kick my ass at Texas Holden every time. Same with Blackjack, but then again that might just be my bad luck talking." She laughed lightly and sat back down on her chair, touching each bullet with her finger.

"I do however, love Russian Roulette. I may not be very lucky, but the possibly deadly outcomes are impossible to resist." Tito's face was blank, but his eyes were betraying the fear he felt.

"Now my friends over there think that your supposed to start with the head." Charlie picked up a single bullet and loaded it into the chamber, spun the casing, and let it close with a click. "But that doesn't make any sense! What if the bullet is in the first chamber and I shoot you in the head? Then I get nothing, except a mess to clean up."

She flipped the chair around to face him, knocking the other bullets to the floor. "So I'm going to start with your feet and work my way up. From your feet I'll go to your knees, then we'll move on to your scrotum, and if you manage to make it past that then we'll move on to your shouder. That way, if the bullet is in one of the first chambers then I would have only shot you in one of your appendages, and you can still talk with a hole in your foot."

Tito merely blinked at her, it was obvious that he was starting to realize he may have made a mistake by baiting her earlier.

"So, one last chance. Do you want to tell my friends what they want to know?" She pointed over at Miles and Monroe who where both doing a great job at looking scary, but Charlie could see the amusement in their eyes. _We'll see who's laughing when we're done. _

"Or do you want to play with me." She waited patiently for him to answer but he didn't budge.

"Ok, fine with me." She pulled the hammer back on the gun and pointed it at his right foot. "Where did you stash the weapons you stole from the Ranger's base." Tito took a shaky breath but said nothing. Charlie waited an extra beat before pulling the trigger. The gun merely clicked but Tito flinched at the sound and glared at her.

"Guess you got lucky. Next." She pointed the gun at his right knee, jabbing it into the bone. "Where are the weapons?"

"I'm not telling you anything you dumb bitch!"

Charlie kept her cool, simply raising her eyebrows at him. "Fine." She pulled the hammer back again and he jumped slightly. "You sure you don't want to tell me?" His was breathing was a little erratic and sweat was beading on his forehead.

"No!"

"Ok." She pulled the trigger and he tried to pull away from her, a small groan escaping his lips. But nothing happened. He was still hole-free. Now he was breathing heavily and the sweat was starting to run down his face.

Charlie clicked her tongue. "Lucky again. Next." This time she jabbed the barrel of the gun right into the crotch of his jeans. He howled in pain but she spoke over him. "Tell me where the weapons are Tito."

"I don't know where they are!"

"Don't lie to me, I heard you talking to your friend in the club." She pushed on the gun a little harder and he squirmed around. "Tell me where they are or say goodbye to your two closest friends."

Now he was really scared, she could see it in his eyes. So she pushed harder. "Your odds have decreased the higher we've gotten. I hope the payday will be worth losing your erections." The bluntness of her statement seemed to have finally gotten through to him.

"No, please don't." He was begging. _How pathetic._

"I won't. If you tell me where the weapons are." He shook his head roughly and she sighed. "Alright, have it your way." She pulled the hammer back on the gun and put just a little bit of pressure on the trigger.

"Wait! Wait, please wait!" Charlie had to smother the glee that erupted in her chest. "I'm listening." She didn't move the gun but waited patiently for him to speak.

He took deep, calming breaths. "It's in an old autobody shop."

She sat back in her chair and moved the gun away from his pants. "Where is this place?"

Tito glared at her but before he could say anything she pointed the gun back at his balls, making him flinch. "Fine. Abandoned city twenty miles west of here. Clay Street."

Charlie offered him a genuine smile. "See? That wasn't so hard, I don't know why you had to make it so difficult for yourself." With that she hopped up from her chair and went back up the stairs without looking back.

Jeremy and Conner were still in the living room, though Conner was awake now. _Finally. _

"So how did it go?" Jeremy looked at her expectantly as Miles and Monroe appeared behind her. She opened her mouth to tell him all about how she had gotten him to talk in less than thirty minutes when Miles cut her off.

"She did good, she got what we needed. The stuff is in a city twenty miles from here." Jeremy and Conner both looked surprised but that was nothing compared to the shock Charlie was feeling.

She looked at her uncle with wide eyes. "You did good kid." Miles slapped a hand on her shoulder and smiled. He looked like one of those proud parents that cheer their kids on at a spelling bee and Charlie had to fight the urge to hug him. _It's about time._

"Thanks." Her voice was practically squeaking but she didn't care, Miles finally gave her the credit she deserved.

"I hate to break up your little moment Charlotte, but the jobs not done. We still have to go and get the stuff." Monroe was smirking at her but she didn't care at the moment.

"Don't worry Sebastian, I'm sure I'll be able to handle that too. Don't you even lift a finger." He glared at her but all she did was laugh, and head off to her room. _Wipe that smirk off your face, I win again._

Miles didn't want another fight to break out so he grabbed Monroe's shoulder and held him in place. "Well, I guess we get the rest of the day off. We can rest up and leave first thing." Miles picked up his whisky bottle and plopped down on the couch with a sigh. "I love my job."

* * *

><p>AN So much fun! I love scary Charlie with a gun and her being a total badass is fun to write. I know everyone wants Charloe so I tried to give you a little but thats not the focus of this particular story. Don't worry I have another one in mind :-) Tell me what you guys think!


	5. Chapter 5

"How much farther?" Conner's whiney voice echoed around them and Charlie had to clench her fists to keep herself from strangling him. No one answered him, they were all trying to pretend like he didn't exist.

"Hello?" Before she could even turn around Jeremy's hand was on her arm.

"Ignore him." His voice was soft and his eyes were kind, over the last 24 hours Charlie had decided that she liked Jeremy. Of all Miles' many 'friends' he was the second one she actually liked. Nora being the first of course.

"I'm trying, but the urge to shoot him is even worse than what it was when I was trying to kill Monroe." He could tell she was barely keeping it together but her bluntness made him chuckle.

"You want to kill Conner more than Bass? Come on, you and Bass fight all the time." He was looking at her like he knew some secret but she ignored it, she knew what he was up to.

"Fighting is something I can handle. I would rather kick Monroe's ass than listen to Junior whine all day." Jeremy rolled his eyes at her.

"Of course you would, that means you'd get to kick Bass' ass, and you would think that's fun." He smiled as if that sounded like it would be fun to watch. "But the real question is, would you be willing to let Bass kick _your _ass in exchange for not having to listen to the kid."

Charlie scrunched up her face, thinking hard. She looked over at Monroe, who was walking silently with Miles, and back at Conner. "No. I'd rather listen to him whine."

Jeremy tipped his head back and laughed. Wiping the tears from his eyes he smiled, "You really are a true Matheson. Pride before sanity. Guess you've been hanging out with Bass too much."

Miles and Monroe were both frowning at them but Charlie was to busy frowning at Jeremy to notice. "Yeah, I know." She walked ahead of the boys grumbling to herself, it sounded suspiciously like 'Miles' stupid friends.'

Jeremy tried to hide his smile when he saw the looks on his friends faces. "What? We were talking."

"She does not act like Bass." Though Miles face showed the slightest hint of worry.

"Why is it always my fault when a Matheson does something wrong?" Monroe looked like he sincerely wanted to know the answer to that question.

"Probably because it usually is your fault." Miles chuckled at the look of outrage on his brothers face.

"What about that one time all of those pictures of Mr. Mollohan with Lucy Garrett under the bleachers got posted all over the school?" Miles looked like he had no idea what Monroe was talking about.

"Remember? We were under the bleachers getting drunk off Kenny Laurie's dad's bourbon at the football game?" Miles still looked lost.

"Lucy Garrett. The cheerleading captain." Still nothing.

"The one with the huge tits." Recognition finally flashed on Miles' face.

"Oh yeah! The brunette chick with the doubles D's. What about her?" Miles was smiling, looking off into the distance as if reminiscing good times.

Monroe looked outraged. "That was all your idea! 'Hey Bass, let's take pictures. Hey Bass, let's put them on everybody's lockers.' The whole thing was your plan, but I'm the one that didn't leave the house for six months when my mom found out we used her camera to take porno pictures." Charlie had walked back when she saw that the boys weren't following. If she didn't know any better she'd say that Monroe had been holding on to that particular story, or grudge, for a long time.

Miles looked confused now. "Dude, that was like thirty years ago. How do you even remember that?"

"Like I said, your not the one that was stuck inside for six months because of it." Conner and Jeremy were both trying to hide their laughter at his juvenile behavior, but Charlie just seemed confused.

"Cheerleaders are the ones in the little skirts that jump around, right?" That made all of the boys laugh and Charlie rolled her eyes. Then she turned to Monroe, "Seriously though, you really need to learn to let things go." She slapped him on the shoulder and pulled on his arm. "If you girls keep gossiping we're never going to get there, come on."

OpOpOpOpOp

Fifteen miles later, they had finally arrived at what they assumed was the town Tito had told them about. It was well past dark and difficult to see, but Jeremy had found a road sign in a ditch on their way in.

"Welcome to Bradford, the home of mass weapons and explosives." Conner held his arms out wide in a mock welcoming gesture and Charlie had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction.

Monroe turned to her, "So Charlotte, you said you have a plan. Care to share?"

She did her best to smile sweetly up at him. "Actually, it's kind of simple. We find Clay Street, get the crap, and take it back to the Rangers." She smirked at the stupid look on his face. "I know, you think it's boring because nothing blows up and nobody dies." She gave an exagerated sigh, "Don't worry, knowing you, you'll find something to screw up." She patted his arm gently and Miles scowled, shaking his head.

"I worry about you two."

Charlie did her best to look innocent. "Why on Earth would you ever have to worry about me Uncle Miles?" There was that mock little girl voice again. But Miles didn't bother responding, he simply walked away shaking his head.

Charlie turned to look at Monroe, genuine curiosity on her face. "Why is he worried about us?" But Monroe, unhelpful as ever, just shrugged his shoulders and follwed his brother.

They scattered slightly, looking around for Clay Street or any sign of an auto shop. Charlie found herself walking just behind Coner who had suddenly stopped around the corner of a brick building and was pointing up at a road sign that was miraculously still standing. As soon as Conner opened his mouth to say he found Clay Street, Charlie saw several men with rifles crossing the street about a half a mile down the road. She grabbed the back of his jacket and yanked him back, slamming him against the brick wall.

"Geez Charlie, if you wanted some alone time-" She slapped a hand over his mouth so the guys with guns wouldn't hear him, and because she wasn't sure she'd be able to stop herself from hurting him if he finished that sentence. She put a finger to her lips to tell him to be quiet and pointed around the corner. His eyes widened in understanding and she let him go.

They moved silently to the edge of the building, and peeked around the corner. There were at least ten of them going in the front door of a building with two garage doors on the side. Some movement directly across the street caught her attention and she looked over only to lock eyes with Monroe who jerked his head in the direction of their target. All of the men had dissappeared inside and there wasn't anyone else in sight.

Suddenly, Conner grabbed at the back of her jacket and was pulling on it roughly. She had to stop herself from breaking his fingers when she saw what he was getting at. About a mile down the road, back the way they came, they could see six more men leading two others, who even from this distance, were recognizable as Miles and Jeremy.

"He just can't help but get caught can he?" She and Conner backed into the entryway of the old building to stay out of sight. Charlie stuck her head out to see if Monroe had realized what happened. He had taken cover as well, but was easy to spot due to the fact that there weren't many places to hide. He had taken refuge behind an old dumpster, that for some reason, had been pushed into the middle of the street.

Thankfully, the men leading Miles and Jeremy took a side street shortcut to get to the auto shop, so they didn't pass her and Conner's hiding place on the way there. They watched as the two of them were led inside and everyone on the street disappeared. She looked back up at Monroe and he nodded his head down the street in the opposite direction of the shop, she nodded and grabbed Conner pulling him farther from the road.

"Hey, where are we going?" Conner obviously wasn't as in tune to his father's nonverbal communication as she was. She didn't respond, just continued to drag him around while he mumbled under his breath about bossy women. She resisted the temptation to snap his neck.

They found Monroe waiting a few blocks away, he had already set up shop in an old mattress store. There weren't any mattresses left though, it was just full of pre-blackout posters of people laying down in ridiculous poses.

"How many guys did you see?" He directed the question at Charlie, probably because Conner's useless, which made her smile.

"I saw about ten go in at first, then the six more that had Miles and Jeremy. What about you?"

"I saw a few guys on the other side of the block, probably six or seven." His face looked grim.

"Great, so we're looking at twenty-five guys, and it's just the three of us? We don't stand a chance." Conner's voice reached that whiney point again and Charlie vaguely wondered whether or not Miles found him annoying._ Of course he does_.

"Conner, I've saved your asses from ten guys by myself. I think the three of us can handle it." _More like two, Conner's useless. Duh._

"Charlotte's right, we'll be fine." He hesitated a moment, "I didn't see Miles or Jeremy's packs anywhere on those guys. Conner, go find their bags, they might have something useful in them." Conner nodded and took off for the door, Monroe calling after him, "Be careful though." He didn't respond, just waved his hand as he closed the door behind him.

Charlie turned to face Monroe with an eyebrow raised. "You really think there's something we can use in them?"

He took a deep breath and avoided her eyes. "No, but it was either that or listen to him whine while we figure out how to get them out of there."

Charlie couldn't help but chuckle, but knowing the circumstances cut the fun short, it was time to get to work. "Recon?" It wasn't really a question, more of a conformation that they were on the same page.

He nodded. "Recon."

OpOpOpOpOp

As much as Charlie didn't want to admit it, she and Monroe worked seamlessly together. They moved as one, him on the right, her on the left and slightly behind. Constantly checking each other's blind spots and communicating entire thoughts with a single glance. Somewhere in the back her mind she wondered if Monroe was psychic, and had to stifle a laugh. The image of Monroe wearing a long robe and a turban while sitting in front of a crystal ball was hilarious.

Monroe must have heard the change in her breathing, or saw it in his crystal ball, because he stopped to look at her with his eyebrows raised. She shook her head and nudged him forward. _Guess he can't read minds, if he could he'd be more upset about wearing a dress._

The shop was situated on the corner of Clay Street and some other unnamed road. The front of the building was facing Clay Street, and the left side of the building with the garage doors was facing the crossing street. The back and right side of the shop were facing other buildings on the block, with small allies between them.

They approached the auto shop from the rear in a small alley between two tall buildings. There was nothing at the back except a long cinder block wall with the top half of an ancient rusted ladder left hanging from the roof. There weren't any windows and there were no guards in sight. He pulled his head ever so slightly to the left and she followed him out of the alley. They flattened themselves against the cinder block wall and he peered around the corner. Without even checking to see if she was paying attention, but of course she was, he held up three fingers.

She pulled lightly on his jacket and when he turned to meet her eyes she pulled her head back in the other direction, towards the right side of the building. He nodded and made to follow her but she held up a hand to stop him and pointed at the ground. He understood, he stayed put at the corner and kept an eye on their three friends while she checked out the right side.

There were four men gathered around a small barrel that had a fire burning in it, they were each holding a stick and roasting some sort of meat over the fire. Charlie turned back and held up four fingers. He nodded and almost as one they made the decision and moved back to their hiding place in the alley.

"What do you want to do?" His voice was a low whisper and his face was close to hers. Charlie had to ignore the way her stomach suddenly flipped over.

"The four have a fire going, if we take out the three first, I have an idea for the rest." He nodded absently, she knew he was listening but she also knew that he was thinking really hard about something.

Having seemingly come to some sort of conclusion, his eyes found her again. "Go around to the opposite side of the street and take out as many as you can with your crossbow, I'll wait here by the corner and catch anyone who tries to get away." She didn't respond, she simply took off to find the long way around to the opposite side of the street.

The building across the street from the garage doors, and the three men guarding them, had several broken windows at the front. Charlie entered through a back door and situated herself behind an old desk that had been turned on its side. She loaded an arrow into her crossbow and took aim at the men across the street. She aimed at the one standing closest to the front of the building and pulled the trigger. The arrow lodged itself just below his throat and he fell limply to the ground.

The other two must not have been very bright, because by the time they noticed their friend was on the ground she had already loaded another arrow and aimed again. This time the arrow entered the guys chest, just above where his heart would be. She could tell he was gasping for air, his friend couldn't seem to decide if he wanted to help his friend or find the source of the shooting. Monroe used the poor guys indecision to sneak up behind him and slit his throat.

Charlie waited a moment to make sure it was clear before joining him while he stripped their bodies of anything useful. "Nice shooting Charlotte. Now you said you have a plan for the others." He pulled a pocket knife out of the ones guys pants and looked up at her.

"Yeah, but we need Conner." He furrowed his eyebrows and huffed a laugh.

"Oh, so now we need his help."

"Nope." Now he looked really confused. "We need him because he has Miles pack and I need something out of it." Comprehension crossed his face but he didn't get the chance to say anything because Conner was suddenly a half a block away, and waving his arms like a lunatic with two bags sitting at his feet. Monroe groaned at his son's less than sutle approach while Charlie couldn't help but smirk.

"Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"Yeah, but you were thinking it." Rather than contradict him, she kept her mouth shut. He was right, she had been thinking it.

Ignoring Conner's look-at-what-I-did-all-by-myself face, she grabbed Miles pack and pulled out a bottle of whisky that was still three quarters of the way full.

Conner looked confused, "What, are you gonna celebrate already?" Ignoring him still, she looked at Monroe who was frowning and shaking his head.

"Bad idea Charlie. Miles is gonna be pissed."

"You have a better plan? 'Cause I would love to hear it."

He sighed heavily but finally nodded his head. "Ok, but this was your idea. Do not try to blame this on me."

Laughing, Charlie headed back up the street, both boys in tow. "Don't be such a girl Monroe, it'll be fine."

Once they were back in the alley behind the auto shop, Charlie turned to the boys and pointed to herself and then up at the rusted old ladder. Monroe looked like he thought this was a really bad idea, but said nothing as he and Conner boosted her up to reach it. She grabbed hold of the bottom rung and pulled on it, checking to see if it would hold her weight. When it didn't budge, she pulled herself up and started to climb. It was creaking slightly but other than that it seemed fine.

At the top she swung herself over the low wall of the roof and looked around. There were vents on the far side of the roof, but other than that it was just empty space. She looked back down at the boys and waved them towards the corner. She moved towards the edge of the roof near where the four men and their fire should be.

They were still standing around the fire, though now they were all stuffing their faces with whatever meat they had managed to catch. Charlie loaded her crossbow again and aimed at one of them with the bottle of whiskey in her other hand. She pulled the trigger and the man dropped with a arrow right behind his ear. Then she threw the bottle of whiskey as hard as she could down into the barrel. The glass shattered and the fire exploded up out of the barrel, sending the other three running backwards directly into Bass and Conner.

Monroe used his sword and stabbed it right into the first guys stomach and he fell to the ground splattered with blood. The other two men attacked them both, one of them punched Conner square in the face while the other tried to hit Monroe in the stomach. Monroe blocked him easily and slashed him with his sword, blood poured from his stomach and he fell to the ground groaning in pain.

Meanwhile, Conner was getting his ass kicked. After the guy's first face shot, he got in several more punches to his stomach and now he had Conner on the ground. He was curled up in the fetal position in a pathetic attempt to protect himself. Rolling her eyes at Conner's incompetence, Charlie loaded another arrow and shot the man in the back.

Just as his body hit the ground Monroe turned around and saw his son on the ground bleeding and the arrow in the guys back. Realizing what had happened he looked up at Charlie with a reluctant little smile on his face. She couldn't help but mouth 'your welcome' down to him with a big smile of her own.

She climbed back down the half-ladder and let herself drop the rest of the way to the ground. Monroe had stood Conner up and was inspecting his wounds while he moaned about the pain, but as soon as he saw Charlie he pushed his father away from him.

"I'm fine, seriously." Monroe must have known why he had pushed him away because when he looked at her she thought she could see silent laughter in his eyes.

"I can't believe that no one's come out after all that noise," she moved to the corner that led to the front of the building and looked around. "There's no one out here." She could tell that Monroe was just as confused as she was.

"Maybe they're waiting inside to ambush us." Conner's suggestion seemed unlikely, but neither Charlie or Monroe bothered to mention that.

"Well, the only way we're gonna find out is by going inside." Monroe nodded his agreement and took the lead around the corner and straight up to the front door. He peered through the filthy glass before grabbing the handle and pulling it open. He stepped back as if to let them go first and met her eyes.

"Ladies first." He was trying to be serious but the little laugh lines she could see around his eyes gave him away.

She brushed past him with her head held high. "Wow, what a gentleman."

* * *

><p>AN Miles and Bass arguing is way to much fun to write, I probably could have done like five more pages of it but I decided to limit myself :-) Thank you for reading and let me know what you think!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N Huge thank you to BassCharlie for reviewing the last chapter! I wrote this just for you. So I hope you don't hate it lol :-)

* * *

><p>They stepped lightly into the auto shop and looked around, but doing so seemed rather pointless. The room was completely empty, there wasn't even any dirt on the floor. Charlie moved cautiously because she was suddenly worried that this whole thing might actually be a trap.<p>

There were two doorways leading out of the front room. One of them led in the direction of the garages and the other most likely led to some sort of office. She moved towards the door that led to the garage and waited for Monroe to get into position before throwing it open.

It was eerily clean, just like the other room. The only difference being the two wagons sitting in the room, and the four horses tethered in the corner. Charlie moved forwards and threw back the tarps covering the wagon bed. Several crates with the Ranger's insignia on them were sitting in the back. Monroe checked the other wagon and found the same thing. They had found the weapons. But...

What the hell was going on? Where is everyone? And why did they leave this stuff sitting here unattended? Monroe was obviously thinking along the same lines because he was looking at her with a confused expression on his face.

Conner seemed to have caught on as well because he finally asked, "Where is everyone?"

"Shhh!" She and Monroe both made the noise at the same time. Her irritation was steadily increasing so she motioned for them to follow her back out into the other room so they could check it out.

There was still no one there and they couldn't hear a sound. They went to the other door and Monroe pulled it open while Charlie stood with her gun at the ready. She had to put her hand over her mouth to stop the gasp from escaping her lips, Conner was backing away from the room waving his hand in front of his nose with a disgusted look on his face. Monroe's eyes were bulging.

They were looking into a small room, actually it was more like a closet, it was as clean and spotless as the rest of the place had been. The only thing missing was the floor. Where the concrete floor should have been, there was a gaping hole in the ground. The rancid smell was coming from the visible sewer pipes below.

Charlie turned to look at Monroe. "Where the hell are we?"

He shook his head slowly, it was clear that he was just as confused as she was. "Well I guess that explains why no one came running when we killed the guys outside. If they're down there, they wouldn't have been able to hear it."

She edged forward, gun at the ready, but it was pointless because there wasnt anyone there. There was however, a ladder. It was about fifteen feet to the bottom and Charlie knew that if they wanted to get Miles and Jeremy back then they had no choice but to go down. She put her gun back into the waistband of her jeans and started to swing herself down onto the ladder.

"Are you nuts? What are you doing?" Conner's voice was a hoarse whisper, he was probably afraid of whatever was at the bottom.

Charlie smiled at him. "Come on, I never said saving your asses was easy. You have to be willing to get a little dirty." She smirked over at Monroe who currently looked like he'd rather be locked in a closet with Rachel than go down that hole.

"Uh-oh, scared Monroe?" She grinned up at him, her little dimple showing on her cheek.

"Nope, just be careful Charlotte. Wouldn't want you to get eaten by the sewer people." She huffed a laugh as she started down the ladder.

"Aww, you say the sweetest things."

They all reached the bottom without incident. Unless you count Conner nearly falling off the ladder because he almost touch a 'turd.' He was mumbling under his breath and Charlie was pretty sure she couldn't understand what he said.

"Are you complaining in Spanish?" He looked a little startled at the question and backed away from her slightly, avoiding her eyes.

"No... Can we just go and get this over with." He was gesturing for her to take the lead down the tunnel, but Charlie already had a plan.

"Conner, you stay here. If anyone comes down kill them and if anyone other than us comes back... well, you should probably run." He looked between Charlie and his dad a few times but eventually nodded his agreement. She looked at Monroe and their eyes met, he nodded and took the lead with Charlie following just behind.

OpOpOpOpOp

The sewers were a maze of passages. Left, right, right, left, and right again. Charlie was starting to get dizzy. They had been wandering around for over an hour now, and she was sure that even if something had gone wrong back at the exit that she and Monroe would not have been able to hear it.

They had made a small torch out of some of the dried wood she kept in her pack for in case it rains and they can't find dry wood for a fire. But the dim light it provided only lit up the area five feet around them.

She was just about to suggest turning back when they noticed a bright light way down at the end of the tunnel on their left. She snuffed out their torch and readied her weapons. They moved quickly but silently towards the light. As they got closer they could her voices and shouting, and the distinct sound of flesh hitting flesh.

Monroe peered around the corner and quickly waved her forward. It was a door made of heavy metal and it was cracked open, that's where the light was coming from. The voices were louder now, whoever was talking was obviously inside.

Charlie moved to the crack in the door and looked inside. It was a long room with a low ceiling, it was dimly lit by a single torch on the wall right next the the door. There were at least 20 people in there, plus Miles and Jeremy who were both on the ground. One of the men was kicking Miles in the stomach.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" But Miles just laughed.

"Come on, you hit like a girl. You gotta put you back into it."

BAM. They guy punched him again, and even from this distance, Charlie could hear the sickening crack of his ribs breaking. Miles barely even flinched, he ground his teeth together and laughed again.

"See? I told you, that one was way better." BAM. The guy hit him on the side of the head and he fell to the side. His head happened to fall at just the right angle for him to look through the crack in the door and see her there. The smile that spread on his face was the biggest she had ever seen on the man, but he quickly turned his attention back to his torturer.

"Don't stop now, your doing good but you still need a little practice." He was taunting them to buy her some time.

"If we take out their lights we'll have a better chance." Monroe's voice in her ear made her jump. She had completely forgotten that he was there but she recovered quickly.

"If we take out their lights we won't be able to see and it will be more likely that we'll kill each other." She didn't turn to look at him because she could still feel his breath on her ear.

"Well then I guess you'll just have to be extra careful." She turned to look at him this time. She knew he was right, it was their best play. But roughly 20 people with guns, wandering around in the dark didn't feel like the smartest plan ever.

"Fine. Just be careful." His eyes were bright with amusement.

"Are you worried about me Charlotte?" She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"No, I'm just worried that we'll be stuck with Conner if anything happens to you." He chuckled quietly but didn't respond. "Once the lights go out I'll go for Miles, you get Jeremy. With the four of us against these guys, we'll be out in no time." He grinned because he knew she was right but it quickly changed into a frown.

"Wait, why does he get to be called Jeremy?" Charlie didn't understand what he was asking.

"What?"

"Why do you call him Jeremy, but I'm still Monroe?" Rolling her eyes in irritation she turned back to the door.

"Would you just focus. You can cry about it later."

The crack in the door was just wide enough that she could fit through it. She squeezed through the small space and silently pulled the torch from its bracket before smothering it in her jacket. Just as the light went out Monroe threw the door open wide and jumped through it, quickly pulling Charlie away from the doorway.

Which was a smart idea, because as soon as they were away from the door all of the people in the room started shooting at it. In the chaos, Charlie and Monroe both ducked low and ran to the center of the room. Charlie almost tripped over Miles' leg.

"Well it's about damn time. Where have you guys been?" But she could hear the smile in his words.

"Don't look at me Monroe wanted to have a heart to heart outside first." She could hear Jeremy snort and then a thud, indicating that Monroe had hit him, and his accompanying groan.

The men in the room were all completely untrained. No one had even thought to try and light another torch yet. Thankfully though, they hadstopped shooting, apparently they had accidentally killed some of their own guys. Now they were all blundering around in the dark trying to find their intruders.

Once Miles and Jeremy were untied, the four of them stood up. They stood in a small circle facing outwards with their shoulders touching. Charlie had Miles on her right and Monroe on her left. She pulled her sword from her belt and handed it to Miles, then pulled out her large hunting knife. Monroe grabbed both of his swords from their place on his belt and handed one to Jeremy.

The entire exchange happened in silence and in a matter of seconds. Charlie felt Miles and Monroe take their fighting stances next to her and followed suit. Without even deciding to do it, they all moved at once.

Charlie was no longer touching either of the boys but she could feel where they were in the room. She struck out at the nearest moving body and the man screamed as her knife pierced his side and went straight through his ribs and into his lungs.

On of his friends nearby lunged after her in the darkness. He caught her left arm and threw her to the ground. Her head hit the concrete pretty hard but she ignored the pain and punched him in the face. He fell off of her and she rammed her knife into his stomach, feeling his blood pour over her hand.

She pulled her knife from his gut and sat still, waiting for her next victim. A man's loud footsteps gave him away as he stalked past her. She kicked her foot out and he fell flat on his face. She scrambled on top of him and pushed her knife up through his ribs and into his heart. She listened to him gasp for breath one last time before jumping back into the fight.

Charlie had taken down seven guys and was about to go for number eight when she realized that the leather in her hands smelled familiar. She ran her hands over Monroe's chest to check for injuries and satisfied that he wasn't hurt, released him. The room had gone very quiet.

"Miles? Jeremy? Are you guys ok?"

Miles raspy answer came from her left, somewhere near the door. And Jeremy's voice indicated he was somewhere in front of her. Realizing how stupid they must seem wandering around in the dark, she pulled out her small torch and relight it.

In the glow of the flames she could see a cut bleeding over Miles right eye, Jeremy's nose was dripping blood on the floor, and Monroe had a hole slashed in the front of his t-shirt where blood was slowly soaking it.

"Hey kid, you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." She subconsciously raised her hand to the back of her head, though realizing her mistake she quickly put it back down by her side. Too late though, Monroe had seen her do it and snached the torch out of her hand to examine the back of her head. She felt his fingers gently probing the wound and hissed when he hit a sensitive spot.

"It's gonna need stitches. It's a pretty deep gash." He handed her back the torch and showed her her own blood on his fingers. Jeremy ripped a piece of cloth off of his shirt and handed it to her to stop the bleeding.

"Let's get back upstairs. It's filthy down here, we're all gonna end up with infections." They all nodded and Jeremy took the lead, and her torch, with Miles behind him, and Charlie with Monroe at the rear. She could feel him looking at her.

"Are you alright? You feel dizzy? You might have a concussion." She was glad for the dim light and the fact that he could barely see her, otherwise he would have seen the smile on her face. He was worried about her.

Rather than teasing him she answered quietly, "I'm fine Bass, really."

"Are you sure 'cause... Did you just call me Bass?"

Again, she was thankful he couldn't really see her face. "Yeah, but that's probably just the concussion talking."

But he knew that wasn't the case.

OpOpOpOpOp

Conner had seemed genuinely surprised to see them all again. He led them back into the garage with the wagons full of their stolen weapons and they set to work hitching up the horses while Jeremy cleaned the cut on her head and stitched it up.

Miles moved several of the crates to the side and made to lie down before he looked up at them. "Aww crap, where's my pack?"

Bass, Charlie, and Conner all laughed as Conner took the bag over to the older man. "I went back and got them after we saw them bring you in here."

Miles grabbed it and set it down before plopping down himself and using it as a pillow. "Alright, let's get this crap back to the Rangers so we can be done with this shit. I'm exhausted."

Charlie laughed and hopped into the drivers seat of Miles wagon, Jeremy jumped up to join her. Bass took over the other wagon while Conner raised the garage doors.

"Dude, I need a drink." Miles had sat back up and was digging around in his pack. Charlie turned wide eyed in Bass' direction. He merely smiled and mouthed 'told you.'

"Bass, did you take my whisky?" Miles turned angrily to look at his brother.

Charlie couldn't help but laugh loudly. Bass had been right, he did always get blamed for the things Matheson's did.

Miles was looking curiously between the two of them but was distracted by the bottle of whiskey that Jeremy had thrown his way. "Here. Now quit whining, you big baby."

Miles took a long drink from the bottle and laid down. They set out of the old auto body shop and back towards the Rangers base. Charlie was happy. They had gotten the weapons back.

They had travelled a few miles in silence when Conner spoke up. "So guys, what's next?"

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><p>AN So this is the end of this story. I do have an idea for a Charloe sequel in mind though so if that is something you guys would be interested in let me know. Thank you so much for reading!


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